Method of forming plates



w. J. TANGERMAN MEIHQD 0F FORMING PLATES Filed April 6, 1959 Apl 3 0,1940.

u o o o a o o o o f/We/War MMU/77 Aprilao, 1940. -w.J.1-A-GERMAN2,199,377

METHOD OF FORMING 'PLATES Filed April 6, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 April 30,1946. w. .1. TANGRMAN METHOD OF FORMING PLATES Filed April s, i939 ssheets-sheet s Patented Apr. 3o, 1940 f, 2,199,377

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD `OF FORMING PLATES William J.Tangerman, Hammond, Ind., assignor v to Standard RailwayEquipment'Manufacturing Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation ofDelaware Application April c, 1939, 'serial Nonsense 9 claims. (c1.15s-vo) The invention relates to corrugated walls for handling is ofsubstantially fiat plates, thereby railway cars and more particularly tothe method greatly eliminating the hazards of handling the and apparatusfor manufacturing such walls. flanged plates.

A common type of end wall for railway cars is The flanges for attachmentto the corner posts 5 a relatively thin metallic plate having pressedare maintained as formed by varying the radius .l5 therein a pluralityof substantially parallel corruof curvature o-f the flanges. Thiseliminates the gations which merge into said plate adjacentthe necessityof forming the flange (i. e., shearing corner posts of the car. An endof this type has and punching the flange) after flanging with the greatstrength when considered at a section consequent disadvantagesenumerated above.

l through the corrugations. There is, however, a The length of the end.may be easily adjusted l0, region of substantially flat plate near theatfor adoption to various Widths of cars. Such tachment oi the end wallto a corner post and adjustment would be difficult with complex die theweakness of this region is indicated by bulges assembliesbut the dieswhich I claim as my therein when the end wall is subjected toexinvention may be easily adjustedl cessive loads. End Wall plates areusually pro- Existing equipment may be utilized. The pril5 vided withflanges on the vertical margins thereof mary OperetiO'n may beIDerfe'rrned 0n dies Whieh for attachment to the corner posts of the car.are normally used for the manufacture of con- It is an object of theinvention to. form the ventional end walls wherein the corrugationsabove mentioned flange on a curvature and carry merge intOl the end WellPlate in the plane 0f the corrugations around the curvature. The flatSaid Wall Furthermore, eXiSting reeipreeeting 20 region of the sheet isthen disposed longitudinally preSSeS Can be used, the presses havingbeen in of the car so that it is better positioned to resist 115e fOrthe manufacture 0f the aforementioned impacts against the end wall. Apreferred form COIlVentiOnal end Walls. of corner post for use with suchan end has angu- Other objects and advantages Of my inVentiOn f larlydisposed arms, one of which is attached to Will be apparent from thefOllOWirlg detailed ,25 the flange and the other to the body part of thedescription by referring to the accompanying end wall. This forms a boxtype corner post in drawings.

which the corrugations function as arches be- In tl'le dreWingS tweenthe arms of the Corner post, Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a set ofdies used 3o Another object of the invention is to improve to performthe primary pressing operation. so f the appearance of the car to whichthe end wall Fig 2 iS 2' plan VieW 0f e Plate aS PreSSed by is applied.The corners appear curved and the the dies 4Sl'lOWn in Fig- 1-corrugations extending around the corner present Fie 3 iS e SeCtiOn 0nline 3 3 0f Fig. 2. a streamlined appearance Fig. 4 is a section to anenlarged scale on line An end wall of the type described above is 4 4 OfFig- 2 .35

" desirable in several respects but presents dif- Fig- 5 iS aperSDeCtiVe VieW of the Set of dies culties in the manufacture thereof.I have inused t0 Perform the final DreSSing Operationvented a method andapparatus to manufacture Fig- 6 iS e Section, Sirnler t0 Fig. 4, Showingend walls of the type described which I will dethe Plate es Dressed bythe dies 0f Fig. 5. scribe in detail hereinafter. The objects and Figs.7 and 9 are Sections 0n lines l-l and 40 advantages of my invention are:9 9 respectively 0f Fg 4- The corrugations are not wrinkled. In a struc-Figs- 3 and l0 are SeCtionS on lines 8-3 and ture embodying archedcorrugations there is a lll-l0 reSpeCtiVely 0f Fig. 6. pronouncedtendency for the inner corrugations Fig. l1 is a perspective View of afinished end to Wrinkle due to the difference in length between Wellplete aS it COmeS from the dies ShOWn in 45 the inner and outercorrugations. I provide Fig. 5. means to prevent such Wrinkling. Fig. 12is a schematic diagram showing the Handling during manufacture isgreatly facilimethodk of carrying the corrugations around the tated. Endplates are manufactured in large curved surface. quantities, therefore,the-presence of anges of Figs. 13 and 14 are sections through the curved50 wide curvature would make it diicult to handle surface as indicated.by the lines I3 and I4 rethe plates due to the impossibility of pilingthem spectively of Fig. 12. one on the other. In the method which Iclaim Fig. l. shows the primary die assembly 2 which as my invention allshearing and punching is comprises a male block 3 and a female block 4.do-ne prior to flanging so that practically all the The male block 3 hassecured thereto a plurality 55 of substantially parallel raised members6 and a plurality of minor members 1 positioned between the members E.The members 6-1 have end sections 9 which slope so as to merge into theblock 3. T'he female block 4 is provided with recesses I in one facethereof which substantially conform to the raised members 6-1 and areadapted to engage therewith.

'I'he blocks 3-4 are secured to the lower and upper platens respectivelyof a reciprocating press, the blocks having substantially the relativepositions shown in Fig. 1. A substantially fiat, relatively thinmetallic plate I5, preferably heated to a red color, is placed betweenthe blocks 3 4 and the blocks are pressed together by a large force. Aforce of two thousand tons is sometimes used for this purpose. After theblocks have been forced together as tightly as possible they are drawnapart and the plate I5 is removed.

Figs. 2 to 4 show the plate I5 as removed, the dotted lines I6 in Fig. 2showing the outline of the plate. The plate has pressed therein aplurality of corrugations I8 having end sections 20 conforming to themembers 6--1 and sections 9 of the block 3. The outline I6 is curvedbecause some of the plate was drawn inwardly to form the corrugations I8and end sections 20. The plate I5 is originally provided with enougharea to leave margins 2| parallel to the corrugations I8 and marginalregions 22 adjacent and transverse to the sections 20. The edges of theplate I5 are then formed to some predetermined configuration which, inthe example illustrated, comprises shearing the straight edges 25 on themargins 2|, punching aligned holes 26 in the regions 22 and shearing thestraight edges 28 on the regions 22.

Fig. 5 shows the secondary die assembly 36 which performs the final, oranging operation, upon the plate I5. The assembly 35 comprises aninterior piece 31 and an exterior piece 38. The interior piece 31comprises spaced apart end portions 40 having exterior convex surfaces4I. A plurality of spaced apart ridges 43 extend around the surfaces 4Iand merge thereinto (45) toward the ends 41 of the interior piece 31.The exterior piece 38 comprises spaced apart end blocks 48 havingconcave surfaces 49 adapted to engage the convex surfaces 4I. Theconvave surfaces 49 are provided with grooves 5I substantiallyconforming to and adapted to engage the ridges 43.

The interior piece 31 and the exterior piece 38 are attached to theupper and lower platens respectively of a reciprocating press whichrmaybe similar to the one used in conjunction with the primary die assembly2. The plate I5 is placed on top of the exterior piece 38 with theopposite side uppermost from its position in the primary die assembly 2.The plate I5 is positioned so that the end sections 28 of thecorrugations I8 are substantially aligned with the grooves 5| in theblocks 48. The interior (31) and exterior (38) pieces are then forcedtogether by a large force and after they have been forced as closelytogether as possible, they are drawn apart. The plate which is thenremoved represents the finished product, being shown in section in Fig.6 and in perspective in Fig. 11.

The finished end wall plate 60 has flanges 6| joined to the plate 68 bya curvature 62 which comprises portions of the sections 20 carriedtherearound. Merely bending a corrugated plate on a curvature wouldwrinkle the corrugations disposed on the interior of the curvature. Iprovide means to eliminate this wrinkling, which means may be bestunderstood by referring to Figs. 4, 6 to 10 and 12.

Fig. 12 shows by the broken lines 68 the position which would be takenby the outermost area 69 of Fig. 4 if it were practical to bend theplate in a simple bending operation. When a corrugated plate is benttransverse to the corrugations, the neutral axis of the plate remainsunchanged in length, the neutral axis being, in this case, substantiallyequidistant from the inner (18) land outer (69) areas of the plate. Ifthe neutral axis is to remain unchanged, the inner area 10 must decreasein length and the outer area.69 must increase in length. Since theincreases and decreases involved are relatively great, deformation wouldoccur in the wrinkling of the inner area 10 and the inward collapse ofthe outer area 69. To prevent said wrinkling and collapse, theperipheral area of the outwardly projecting sections is increased,thereby drawing from the innermost plate 10 enough material to permit itto form a radius without Wrinkling. The increase in peripheral area maybe accomplished by increasing the length of the section 20, as indicatedby the dotted lines 12 of Fig. 12, by increasing the depth' of thesections 20, as indicated by the dotted lines 13 of Fig. 12, or byincreasing the width of the sections 28 as shown in the comparison ofFigs. 9 and 10. The preferable method is to increase length, depth andwidth of the sections 20, thereby drawing material from the inner areas18 and redistributing it at the outer areas 69.

Figs. 7 to 10 inclusive show the changes in the plate caused by anging.Figs. 7 and 8, which show the contour of the plate before and afteranging respectively, are at the same section of plate; i. e., theoriginal section of mergence of the sections 20 into the plate I5. Thecorrugations 12 are formed by the extension of the section 20 duringfianging. Figs. 9 and 10 show the contour of the plate I5 through' thesections 28 before and after anging respectively showing the increase inthe height and width of the sections. This increase in length, heightand width of the sections 2U increases the peripheral area thereof andutilizes material which normally lies between (19) the sections 20 andwould cause wrinkles during flanging if not drawn therefrom.

In the claims, the term substantial1y, as applied to the increase ofperipheral area of the corrugations, is used to indicate that theincrease is materially greater than that inherent in the outer portionsof a plate due to the increase in stress which accompanies a angingoperation.

Increasing the length and depth of the sections 20 as explained abovenot only draws material from the inner surface 18 but also from the ange6I. This would distort the edge 28 which had been sheared straight priorto anging. The edge 28 would be bowed inwardly at the center oppositethe sections 20 but not appreciably deformed opposite the margins 2|.The row of holes would assume a similar contour. To overcome thiseffect, the radius of curvature I5 at the margins 2| is made smallerthan the radius 86 adjacent the sections 2|). The additional materialrequired to form a curvature on the radius 85 should be approximatelyequal to that drawn from the flange 6| by the increase in peripheralarea of the sections 28 so that theA shape of the edge 28 and holesremains substantially as originally formed. It is undesirable to punclrthe holes 28 and shear the edges 28 after tions of product and method asdefined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The method of forming a metallic plate comprising pressing therein aplurality of substantially parallel alternating and opposltelyprojecting corrugations, iianging said plate so as to form an archofeach of said corrugations and simultaneously with said iiangingsubstantially increasing the peripheral area of the outer corrugationsonly at said arch.

2. The method of forming a metallic plate comprising pressing therein aplurality of corrugations having end sections which merge into saidplate, ilanging said plate on a curvature so that each of said sectionsis carried therearound on the exterior thereof and simultaneously withsaid flanging substantially increasing the peripheral area of saidsections without altering the unflanged portions of said corrugations,

3. The method of forming a metallic plate comprising pressing therein aplurality of corrugations having end sections which merge into saidplate, langing said plate on a curvature so that a portion of each ofsaid sections is car` ried partially therearound on the exterior thereofand simultaneously with said hanging substantially increasing theperipheral area of said portions of said sections without altering theuniianged portions of said corrugati-ons.

4. The method of forming a metallic plate comprising pressing therein aplurality of corrugations having end sections which merge into v saidplate, nan-ging said plate on a curvature so that a portion of each ofsaid sections is carried partially therearound on the exterior thereofand simultaneously with said anging increasing the depth of saidportions cf said sections Without altering the unilanged portions ofsaid corrugations.

5. The method of forming a metallic Plate comprising pressing therein aplurality of corrugations having end sections which merge into saidplate, flanging said plate on a curvature so that a portion of each ofsaid sections is carried partially therearound on the exterior thereofand simultaneously with said flanging increasing the length of saidsections without altering the unanged portions of said corrugations.

6. The method of forming a metallic plate comprising pressing therein aplurality of corrugations having end sections which merge into saidplate, ilanging said plate on a curvature so n that a portion of each ofsaid sections is carried partially therearound on the exterior thereofand simultaneously with said flanging increasing the length andl depthof said sections Without Ialtering the unflanged portions of saidcorrugations.

` 7. The method of forming a metallic plate comprising pressing thereina plurality lof substantially parallel corrugations leaving a margin ofsaid plate parallel therewith, said corrugations having end sectionswhich merge into said plateleaving a region adjacent and transverse tosaid sections, shearing a straight edge on said region and forming aflange from a portion of said region by :Hanging said plate on acurvature so that portions of said sections are carried partiallytherearound on the exterior thereof and..A i i the peripheral area ofparts of said sections is increased thereby drawing some plate from saidregion, said curvature being sharper at said margin than adjacent saidsections so as to substantially maintain said edge straight.

8. The method, of forming a metallic plate comprising pressing therein aplurality of substantially parallel corrugations leaving a Vmargin ofsaid plate parallel therewith, said corrugations having end sectionswhich `merge intoy said plate leaving a region adjacent and transverseto said sections, punching a plurality of substantially aligned holes insaid region and forming a ilange from a portion of said region byflanging said plate on a-curvature so that portions of said sections arecarried partially therearound .on the exterior thereof and theperipheral area of parts of said sections is increased thereby drawingsome plate from said region, said curvature being sharper at said mar-.-gin than adjacent said sections so as to substantially maintain saidholes aligned.

9. The method of forming a metallic plate comn l prising pressingtherein a plurality of substan tially parallel corrugations leavingamargin of said plate parallel therewith,'said corrugations having endsections which merge into said plate leaving a region adjacent andtransverse to said sections, forming said region to a predeterminedconguration and forming a ange from a portion of said region by flangingsaid plate on a curvature so that portions of said sections are carriedpartially therearound on the exterior thereof and the peripheral area ofparts of said sections `is increased thereby drawing some plate fromsaid region, said curvature being sharper atsaid margin than adjacentsaidsections so as to substantially maintainv said configuration WILLIAMJ. TANGERMKAN..

